Office of Red Ribbon
by Chelle Isyrian
Summary: More Ghost Hunt fluff. Woo! Same verse as Umbrellas and Raining Tea but set after Romance Politics on the Dance Floor. Enjoy! R&R NaruxMai as always.


**So by the looks of it I'll be writing a lot of one-shots for Ghost Hunt, set in the Umbrellas and Raining Tea verse. Each new addition is set after the last.**

**Please R&R I love getting feedback.**

**And again, I sadly do not own Ghost Hunt *sobs uncontrollably***

**Enjoy my peoples!**

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Mai sat at her desk, going through the files Naru had placed in front of her earlier that morning when she heard the familiar call for tea.

Ayako and Monk sat in Shibuya Park waiting for Yasuhara, who soon arrived. As the youngest of them pulled out a notebook, the two eldest passed him the supplies they'd already gathered.

"Okay, so we need to make sure we finish these today," started Ayako, already twining the ribbon she held into place. "We don't have time tomorrow, and there's no guarantee we'll have enough time before we need to put everything in place to do any last minute additions." Monk and Yasuhara nodded, grabbing ribbons looping them around the various other objects they'd 'borrowed' from the office. They continued working, putting ribbons on enough stuff that, if they wanted, they could turn an entire office into a mass of red ribbon.

"So how exactly are we going to get all this inside without Naru finding out?" asked Yasuhara, thinking of the glares they'd get if they were caught. Monk looked up briefly from his work.

"Lin gave me a spare key, and promises to keep everyone out of the office until we're done." He said. Yasuhara nodded. At least five hours passed before they were finished their work, in which time they'd gotten quite a few strange stares for passer-by's. Monk stretched his arms and fell back onto the ground, closing his eyes against the sun.

"Don't get too relaxed Monk-san, we still have things to do." Yasuhara commented, standing up to stretch his cramped muscles. He looked over to Ayako, surprised to see she had already lain down, and even fallen asleep. He shook her awake. "Come on Ayako-chan, we have to go get everything else ready."

Naru sat in his office, typing up the report for their latest case. It had involved a small group of old women who had been doing some pretty gruesome things to their own descendants. He picked up his cup and noted that it was empty.

"Mai, tea!" he yelled through his office door, waiting until he heard her move to get back to work. The clock ticked as he waited impatiently for his tea, tapping on his desk with a pencil. The door to his office soon opened and he allowed himself to calm and stopped tapping. Hot tea was place in front of him and he could feel his assistant standing behind him, waiting, as usual, for a 'thank you'. He ignored her, as usual, and proceeded to type. Mai huffed and left, slightly slamming the door behind her and got back to work.

That morning Mai was early to work, but was surprised to find the door locked. She was just fishing around for her key when a shadow fell over her, causing her to jump. She looked up to see Lin standing beside her.

"L-Lin-san," she stammered, her heart still racing. "You scared me!" Lin just stared at her, then motioned for her to follow, and left, back down the stairs. She followed him, curious as to where they were going, and saw him heading towards Naru's car. Naru was sitting in the front passenger seat, looking bored. Mai got in the backseat as Lin slid back into the driver's seat and started the car.

Naru sighed. Frankly, here was bored. Lin had dragged him and Mai out to visit various 'clients' the entire day.

"I still don't see why we had to go see them ourselves." Mai complained from the back seat. "Why couldn't they just come to the office like our other clients do?" Naru rolled his eyes, and pointedly ignored the smug look Lin gave him for it.

"Because, baka, as you would have no doubt noticed, the client was ill and was confined to bed by the doctor." He said, not even bothering to look at Mai, he could feel the indignation she felt towards his insult. "Although I don't see the point in all _three_ of us going." He added, glaring at Lin. Lin ignored him and parked near the office.

As they climbed the stairs to the office, with Naru and Mai bickering about what kind of haunting it would be, Lin quickly text Ayako, telling her they were coming. He received a reply saying something along the lines of "_thank god these two are driving me crazy_". Lin stopped just short of the door, letting Mai and Naru pass him. They didn't even notice they were that wrapped up in arguing.

"Naru." He looked at me. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" I asked. He looked at me curiously then told Mai to continue on inside. He looked at me expectantly, but I stayed silent. Waiting for something.

Naru looked at Lin then heard people shout.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Alarmed he turned around. In front of him was Mai standing in the open doorway, and past her he could see the office lounge room covered in red ribbons. The culprits of this mess were currently waving pieces of red paper around and looking at Mai. Mai suddenly started laughing and ran to her friends, attempting to hug them all at once. Naru looked at Lin, who only smiled and went inside, heading straight for his laptop. Naru followed the Chinese man inside, shutting the door behind him.

Ayako watched Mai's face as she stood in the doorway. She noticed first shock, then happiness flit across the girl's face. Her heart melted a little when tears started falling down her face, meeting the big grin that was spreading. Mai was suddenly running at them, and she was almost winded as Mai collided with her, Monk and Yasuhara, grabbing them all into a tight hug. I laughed and hugged her back then released her and stepped back so John could be hugged.

"Since you weren't planning on doing anything, we figured we'd do our own thing." Yasuhara said, reaching behind him to grab a balloon, which he promptly tied onto Mai's wrist the minute she was free of John. He looked at Mai, seeing her crying but also smiling, assuming she was just happy. "Now hurry up and open you're presents!" steering her towards one of the couches.

Mai giggled and allowed herself to be manoeuvred into a seat on the couch, staring at the small pile of gifts sitting on the table in front of her. She looked up at the others as one by one they all took seats. She noticed Naru was talking hurriedly to Lin, confused. Lin just shook his head at him and nodded toward Mai. Naru looked at Mai thoughtfully and whispered something to Lin, who whispered something back then started typing on his computer.

"So which one are you going to open first?" Ayako's voice reached her, bringing her attention back to the presents in front of her. She looked at them carefully, tears still falling from her face, so she quickly scrubbed them away and grabbed the closest present. It was a red box with red ribbon on it and was roughly the size of her head; she thought they'd planned a red theme. She opened it and gasped. Inside was the most beautifully covered book. She lifted it out and noted that it was very heavy; it was also too big to be a normal book. She admired the decorations on the front; it said Mai Taniyama Ghost Hunter in fancy Japanese calligraphy, on a background of blood red material. Covering the book around the title were small hand drawn images of ghosts, ghouls and other such childish renditions of the things she'd encountered since joining SPR. The cover page was also bordered with the nine cuts that repeating the entire way around the book. Flipping open the book she saw the pages were blank, but in the back was writing inside the cover. It read:

_Dear Mai,_

_This is a sketch book so you can draw the crazy things you manage to let happen to you._

_P.S. Try not to fill it up with pictures of Naru._

_-Ayako_

Mai blushed and shut the book, looking up at Ayako, who just grinned and winked at her. She put the book down and picked up another gift. Again, it was wrapped in red ribbon, and Mai noted there was definitely a red theme going on here. She lifted the top off the box and saw a small red stained glass ornament. She lifted it out and saw that it was a perfect miniature version of her mother. She looked at the others, wondering who could have made this. She caught the eyes of John, who was smiling at her.

"Did you do this?" she asked him, astounded. He nodded sheepishly. "But how?" she asked, staring at the beautiful woman in her palms. John rubbed the back of his head nervously.

"Well uh, I kind of borrowed your keys and used the picture of your mother you had. I photocopied it and gave the copy to a glass worker, who was able to recreate her." He said sheepishly. Mai's draw dropped, amazed John had gone to so much trouble. Then her mind clicked.

"Hey wait! Is that why my keys went missing a few weeks ago?" She demanded. John nodded.

"It was Monk-san's idea!" he said, trying to shift the blame onto someone else. Monk looked at John.

"John! How could you rat me out?" he wailed. Mai glared at the both of them, but couldn't keep it up considering what they did it for. Instead she picked up an almost identical box and saw it was from Monk. Inside was the same kind of ornament, red and made of glass. Tears welled up in her eyes again as she saw this time it was her dad she was looking at. She looked at them both in her hands, and sat them side by side on the table. Seeing her parents once again with each other, even if only in glass form, broke her, and she began sobbing happily, throwing herself at the two men. Monk and John hugged Mai as she repeated 'thank you's' at them. Someone coughed and Mai returned to her seat. Giving the ornaments one last look, she reached for another box which had a card attached to the ribbon. It read _"-Lin"_. Inside was an assorted collection of drawing equipment, from pencils to charcoal. She looked at Lin and thanked him, bowing. He nodded back at the girl and continued typing on his computer. She moved on to the last gift on the table, which turned out to be a red photo frame, with a picture of Yasu and herself at the beach, grinning.

"I figured you would love something that would allow to you see my face every day." Yasuhara said grinning mischievously. Mai grinned at him. She looked at each of her friends in turn and smiled at them with so much warmth they thought the room might actually raise in temperature.

The rest of the night was spent with everyone talking and eating food and cake, enjoying each other's company. Afterwards Mai sat on the couch, already putting her gifts to use as she drew the others talking in her new sketch book. Naru watched Mai draw, smiling internally at how happy she looked, and wondered if he should still get her something, even though it'd be late. He had already reprimanded Lin for leaving him out of everything, making him look like an idiot as he was the only one without a gift. Lin had just shrugged it off and told him he should've gotten her something anyway since he knew it was her birthday. He noticed everyone was starting to stretch and clear out, going home to sleep, as it was one in the morning. He was about to call everyone back when he saw Mai had fallen asleep on the couch. Hearing the door shut behind him he look to see Lin leaving. Naru turned back to Mai and studied her, moving closer to get a better view of his face. She looked so calm and happy; he couldn't help but smile softly, but soon stopped when he saw the state the office was in. With a sigh he reached over and shook Mai awake. Her eyes opened and she looked up at him.

"Ne? Naru?" she said, rubbing her eyes and stood up, stretching out her muscles. "Where is everyone?" He rolled his eyes.

"They've gone home baka, which leaves us to clean up." He said, already starting to clear up. Mai looked around, and realised he was right, so she started cleaning.

They'd soon cleaned up, and Naru had given a ride home. He'd also accompanied her to her door, just to make sure she was okay. Mai opened her apartment door, and walked inside. After depositing her stuff on a table, she turned to see Naru leaning in the door frame, watching her.

"Did you want to come in?" she asked. He studied her for a moment and seemed to make up his mind.

"Close your eyes." He commanded. Mai instinctively did what he said, but she started to feel nervous when she didn't he didn't say anything for a few minutes. She was about to open her eyes again when she felt pressure on her lips. She gasped and opened her eyes, only to see Naru's closed ones. She closed her eyes, memorising the feeling of his lips. She's just started to get into it when he pulled away, looking her in the eyes from barely a centimetre away.

"Happy birthday." He whispered softly, before turning and leaving, closing the door behind him.

Mai stood frozen, looking at her door. Eventually she moved, touching her fingers to her lips, where she could still feel Naru's. It was like a tingling sensation that burned through her. She smiled and went to change into her pyjamas, collapsing into her bed exhausted.

She slept well that night, dreaming of red.


End file.
